Tag: UIC

Some people see a couch, I see a mid-day respite. (which is the same thing)

Everyone has a busy schedule. It seems like there’s not enough time in the day to get all of your classes, studying, workouts, work shifts, extracurriculars, and social life commitments done in 24 hours. Usually a single day involves some sleep, right? Sometimes you just need to crash wherever and whenever possible. Here’s my top 5 places to nap at UIC’s East Campus. (You should feel lucky that I’m sharing this information with you)

1. Newman Center

The Newman Center is the youth Catholic center on campus. It hosts mass every day. Catholic or not, the Newman Center is open for use for everyone. It has a multitude of couches and seats that are pretty empty the majority of the day. Being a church, it will most likely be quiet, so your naps will be uninterrupted.

Last time I tried using a balloon for a parachute, I faceplanted off my roof.

Just last August, President Trump announced that the US Government will develop a United States Space Force by 2020. Some of of the main missions include maritime security among the US forces and our allies, and to protect potential future ventures for commercial business in space. Some people think that the proposition is ridiculous (I am in agreement; the necessity of a space force is not prevalent enough to create another branch of the military) while others fully support Trump’s decision to develop such a force.

I think that humanity has always looked to the stars for answers, but in 1959, Science Fiction writer Robert Heinlein wrote Starship Troopers, a penultimate novel about the life of a young Army recruit who earns his way through the ranks and becomes a commissioned officer. The recruit’s name is Juan Rico, and joins an elite fighting division called the Mobile Infantry; power-armor donning space soldiers, if you will. The backdrop of the story is set in the near future, where interstellar travel is made possible by FTL, (Faster Than Light) known as Cherenkov Drive. The Terrans are at war with multiple alien factions, and Rico finds himself in the midst of what they call the “Bug War”.

UIC’s annual Spark festival is coming up this Friday! Spark will be held this year in Granderson Field, doors open at 2:30. Tix are $10 for UIC students, $25 for staff and alumni, and $45 for non UIC guests. Ticket prices will go up at the door so buy them now!

This year Spark is proud to announce we will be having our first ever female headliner!

H.E.R. (Having Everything Revealed) is a 21-year-old contemporary R&B artist, who surfaced into the music scene in 2016. H.E.R. offers both a vulnerable and assured sound through the production and writing in her music. The California native artist has collaborated with other prominent musicians such as Daniel Caesar, Khalid, and Bryson Tiller.

Spark is also excited to give a festival experience to attendees this year. We will be having multiple acts, great food options, face painting stations, out door games and more! Come find out for yourself!

Wanna get familiar with all the Spark artists before the show? Check out this playlist!

UIC’s Brutalist architecture might be unique in Chicago, but it doesn’t mean it’s attractive. University Hall looks like a giant air conditioner.

Hey, how’s it going? Matt Cuartero here.

I just wanted to take a quick moment to welcome you to my blog here at UIC Radio: M4 – Matt’s Monday Morning Mailbox (although I do not always release on Mondays exclusively). I answer viewer’s submitted questions, and I also like to write about the military, music, video games, and track and field. I also do reporting on school events from time to time. If you’re returning to UIC, welcome back to another great year; thank you for joining me again. If you’re a first year student here, I welcome you too. I hope you’ll find Chicago an exciting city to be in.

With a new year comes new classes, responsibilities, and opportunities. It also comes with what I like to call “Warm Up Season”. I don’t know about you guys, but the first few weeks of school are always my laziest. I don’t know; until I realize that classes are getting serious (usually I am notified by this with a bad grade) I take a long time to get into action and really buckle down on studying. I wanted to provide you with a plan of attack of my own to hit the ground running and get the jump on the semester before it gets a jump on you. Some say the most important part of the semester is the very beginning and I would agree with that.

On March 16, UIC Radio held the Battle of the Bands, which is a competition against local bands for a spot to play in next year’s Spark in the Park. The event was held in the East Terrace from 6 p.m. -9 p.m.

Man. Spark In The Park has had some fire lineups in years previous. We had Nick Jonas and DRAM this year. 2015 had Twenty One Pilots, 2014 had J Cole, and 2013 had both Kendrick Lamar and Chance the Rapper. These are just a few of the notorious artists and bands that have performed here in UIC’s backyard.

Imagine opening for one of these artists as a performer or band in your own right. Sounds amazing, right? Well, local band New House was the winner for this year’s Battle of the Bands.

I’d like to begin this article by saying welcome back to another glorious semester here at University of Illinois at Chicago; as usual, I ushered in the new year by being incredibly lazy, and I’m sure you had the same response.

Whatever. Let’s talk about MGMT who is releasing their 4th studio album on February 9, 2018.

This marks MGMT’s fourth studio album, and a lot of the aesthetic of the album pertains to the Gothic medieval era, similar to the album’s namesake. The themes are very apathetic, evil, and has the typical trippy vibe of MGMT. “When You Die” is my favorite single on the album, and it is a very warm and tangy song for how dark its lyrics truly are. Just watch the music video and you’ll understand what I mean:

So, the 2017 fall semester is coming to an end. Many of us call Chicago home, while a good group of UIC students think that they are from Chicago but are really from the suburbs (such as myself).

After spending about four months at UIC, it is definitely nice to take a break and come home for the holidays to spend time with family and friends. Winter break officially begins on December 16th, 2017 and ends on January 16th, 2018. You might have some apprehension regarding not knowing what to do during break.

As do I.

Because humans really like to read lists, I have compiled a few things that will hold you over until the spring semester.

1. Get a job, you lazy bum. I recommend the seasonal positions for Mobile Sales Consultants at Best Buy, Cart Attendants at Target, or even working for the Pavilion at UIC. Maybe even sign up to be a lifeguard at your local outdoor waterpark.

If you’re a millennial like me, you might remember the fleeting memories of disposable cameras that were all the rage in the 90s and early 2000s. Nowadays, disposable cameras are still accessible and able to be purchased, but not for anything less than around 20 bucks – for just the camera alone.

Not to mention, when trying to post an image on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, you’re met with almost too many filters to make the picture look as perfect as you can possibly alter it to be. Back in the day, you had one shot at taking a picture, and the way it came out was the way it came out – but it was nearly perfect as it was anyway.

But if you’re still looking for something to fulfill the nostalgia of the previous millennium, you can look no further than your own smartphone!

Earlier this year, a Korean startup company Screw Bar created Gudak Cam as a way to relive the days where capturing the moment was essential, and snapping hundreds of the same picture was unthinkable. In the era of the smartphone, we are so used to redoing the same photo a million times to make sure it is absolutely perfect before posting it online.

Gudak Cam takes that away completely. One of its quirks is that it takes away your ability to be able to fully see what you are capturing by limiting your focus to a tiny viewfinder at the top of the screen. And selfie view? Forget about it. The app makes you work to snap a selfie by using the front camera. This may be off-putting to some, but these features are what make Gudak Cam so appealing.

Here’s how it works: you open up the Gudak app and are brought to the camera, but instead of a fullscreen view of what you’re trying to photograph, you see mostly an image of the old-school disposable cameras from back in the day, with the exception of a tiny viewfinder to give you a glimpse of the scene in front of you.

Source: Gudak Cam

A new “roll” gives you 24 shots, and the pre-made lightleak filters randomize once every hour, so every image is different so long as you don’t use all 24 shots in one hour.

Once you’re finished, the roll goes to the processing lab, where it will take 72 hours to develop. Once that’s finished, the images download straight to your phone’s camera roll and you have two dozen new images with a variety of different filters and lightleaks to give each photo its own charm.

The app is available for 99 cents only for iPhone for now, but the increase in the app’s popularity would suggest it will be making its way onto Android devices in no time. So, get snapping! In the meantime, here are some of the Gudak Cam photos I’ve taken recently to give you some inspiration. Click through to view full size:

Some orchids in a hotel

Toronto, Canada

The border between Canada and the US

Woosh

Good ol’ sears/willis tower

My backyard before everything began to die

Wicker Park stop

I was almost late to my train because I stopped to take this pic

Spookyfest, woo!

Chicago Theatre lights

Thinking about giving Gudak Cam a try? What do you think about this concept for an app? Comment and let me know!

This year, along with blogging, I am hosting my own show, affectionately titled “Figuring It Out!” with Sonia Universe. Why? Because every week, you never quite know how the show is going to go . . . but we’ll figure it out.

I did a few test runs over the summer and have resumed my weekly shows during the semester, which is also my last semester at UIC!

I’m back again to serve up some conversations and tunes: alternative, indie, rock, electronic, and of course, k-pop. So be sure to tune in every Wednesday from 2-4pm here at uicradio.org for your weekly dose of jams!

Chance the Rapper has been the focus of many different conversations, whether it is about his music to funding public education. One thing that I like to do with popular mainstream artists, is research their musical lineage. I decided to do that with Chance and was quite intrigued with the results.

I began my research by reading an article from Complex Magazine where Chance was asked about some of his favorite artists and he provided the magazine with a list of 25 of his favorite albums that influenced his career. Out of those 25 albums, I picked three artists that he mentioned:

From there, I begin to trace their influential roots using the All Music Guide. It can be such an eye-opening experiencing listening to the different artists via one’s musical lineage. If you are an open-minded music fan, then you may discover some hidden treasures.

For Lauryn Hill and Michael Jackson, they shared some similar musical influences, one of those influences being the lovely:

It should be noted that if I had chosen some of Chance’s other musical influences, the results would have been a bit different. For instance, if I had chosen James Brown as one of Michael Jackson’s influences, we may have ended up with Robert Johnson being one of the roots of Chance’s musical lineage. Trace the musical lineage of your favorite artist and share the results with us!

Best,

Brother Jacob

“Host of Blues and News with Brother Jacob” every Sunday, from 6 pm – 8 pm on UIC Radio.